Cereal grain cracking machine



June 7, 1949. J. w. THOMAS 2,472,730

A 0mm. enuu CRACKING MACHINE Filed Aug. 27, 1945 3 Sheds-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

Jog M THOMAS 4 w June 7, 1949. J, w', THOMAS 7 2,472,780

v CEREAL GRAIN CRACKING MACHINE Filed Aug. 27. 1945 s Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTUR. Jol-m W THOMAS Y ang June 7, 1949. J. w. THOMAS 2,472,780

CEREAL GRAIN CRACKING MACHINE Filed Aug. 27, 1945 s Sheets- Sheet s 'IIII} 4 fa l 5 5 g i C i INVENTOR. JQHNW THOMAS Patented June 7, 1949 S TAIES OFFICE John W: Thomas; Wichita, Kans.,. assignor to: Thomas, Stone -& French, Inez, Wichita; i Kans;

dppl'icati'omAugust 27, 1945, seriamo. 6121771 (Cl. zen-24s) My:inventionherein'disclose'direlatesto a cereal graincrach'ing' machine; a-ndfihas for: its principal object, means to efficiently crack cereallgrairr in a; way: as: to avoid producing flour by restrictingfi a continuous rotation of the crackedgrain with: the disc rotor:

Anotheriobject of. ray-invention is to" construct a. graini chackingi machine; the components".- of which are: few-in number, easily manufactured: and assembled, and possessed of a high'degrea on efliciency with: respect to its service.

Another objectv of myinvention? is to-construot a cereal cracking; machine: that will: perform: its" duty as aotuatediby a: motor minimizedwith. respectt'o its power capacity-,iandiat the sametim'e.- capable of producing a selected velocity of R. P. M-.- for. the. rotor' to crack the: grain. uniform-ally? at arapid rate and without producing meal or flour.

These and other. objects? will hereinafter be more fullyexpla ined; reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification,- and: in which like characters will apply to; like. parts: in the different views.

Referring to/the" drawings:

Fig. 1- isaside'elevation of the. machine, parts: removed for convenience of illustration.

Fig. 2. is: an enlarged fragmentary: view of the rotor anditsshaft;

Fig. 3 is-:a front'viewof Fig. 1, parts removed for convenience of illustration.-

I Fig. 4 is a plan view of the machine to show the position of a-diverting element that extends across. the periphery of the rotor.

Fig. 51s a fragmentary sectional view, taken on; line 5-5 in Fig. 4-, parts removed for convenience of illustration.

Fig. 6 is an enlargedview of the rotor toillustrate. the grooved sides of the. rotor and edgedv blade adjustably. secured to the machine casing in working relation to the grooved sides of the rotor.

As a 11101 60011688dBSCIiDlZlOH Of the drawings, it. Will be seenthat the structure consists of a casingcomprisedot sidewalls I- having foot e1-e-- ments Z'for each sidewall-and beingturned outwardl y. from each other. to carry the machine, said. casing having a hoodenclosure 3 that. is rockably connectedthereto-by hinges hand being. secured' in a closed. position by a catch. at. the front-of! the macliine, saidcatch comprising; a blockjthatis secured. tothe-frontof the hood enclosure, and a pin 6 secured' to andoutwardl-y extending-at right-angle from the body adjacent its upper extremity and a loop I rockably carried by the bloclcandiadapted to engage under the pin and not show 2 to' l'o'clr the hood and casing firmly together while: th'e'r machine" is in action.

Positioned on the hood is a hopper 8 that-com municates with the interior of the casing as a;- guide for grain fed into the machine and being positioned in registry with the rotor atone si'd'e' of the turning axis.

Rotatably jou rnall'eol in the casing is a disc rotor 9, said rotor being axially secured to a shaft l'itthat is j'ourrialled -in bearings I 1 said be'arin'gs being secured; to -b'rackets I'Z adjacent their outer" extremit s by Lil-caps 13, the"- legs A o'fwh-ich' securedi tor the brackets by cap screws W threadedIyen'gagi-ng 'in the bracket.

A'si a: means to restrict longitudinal movement or thesaidshaft is through th'e'-mediim1of coIl-ars Wthat are securedto c'lo'seengag-en'ientwiththe outer ends of said bearings by ca screws F6 threadedliy engaging through the shell of the collars to tight engagement with the shaft as showniini Fig; 31

To prevent cracked grain from passing out Ward where: the? shaft engages through the side Walls of the":casin'g :.it will' be seen inrigs. 2-and 3 that shouidersr B11 are formed by reducing the diameter" of: the shaft where it passes through the side Walls of the casing, said shoulders-heme in: close contact: with the ih'ri'er side of their respective: sidewalls.

It wflil'be. seen thatithe s'ides of theorising are spaced:- out-Ward'fromthe sides of the rotor whereby ample room. is provided to function as a receiving chamb'erforthe'grainas' cracked; The said chamber is provided with a bottom FF slanting downwardly and" outwardly on an arc toward thefrontioiithe casingwhere saidchamber joins chute'compris'ed of a top 0; sides D" and afront: E while: the rear is open to? communicate withsaid chamber and likewise the lower ex-'-' tremit'yes at: F'i's open to'functiori as a discharge forrcracked:grain intoisacks l's 'o'rthe like, or may be-conducte'd toza place of storage through a sui t able pipe: system; the? latter not shown in the drawingsvbut in: such event a blower may be'pro= vided to force the cracked. grain outwardi' saidb'lbweraswelli'asvthe pipe'systern being alternates in the drawings:

Whensacls as containers for the cracked grain" are employed will lee-seen that the upper or openiend; oi the -sack will engage around the open end" of thechut'e and being secured thereto by suitable hooks l9'=secured to the chute structure As a matter'o'f'c'oursesaidsacks when filledare' mmdvefia'rnd 8661111361"DbitGIDSEd DUSltlOHBYStltOlT- on otherwise.-

The chute above referred to is removably secured to the casing by pins 20 upwardly extending from a flange H that is integral with the casing whereby the chute may be removed for a suitable spout connection and a blast fan to discharge the grain.

It will be understood that the chute as connected in Fig. 1 has an opening at its rear as above stated which will engage over said flange fitting closely thereon and retained at its lower extremity by such engagement and by gravity strain from sacks as they are filled.

The method of cracking the grain is accomplished by blades 2! adiustably secured to the sides of the casing on a plane with the turning axis of the shaft, said blades being carried by horizontally disposed bars 22 that are secured to the casing sides. To move the blades toward and from the rotor sides, it will be seen that elongated slots 23 are provided in the blades through which bolts 24 will extend and threadedly engaging in said bars whereby the edges of the blades are moved toward and from the sides of the rotor to crack the grain to a desired comminution.

It will be understood that the aforedescribed blades and bars are rigidly carried by the body portion of the casing at its upper extremity at which point the hood will seat grain tight and being secured as heretofore described.

Both sides of the rotor are subdivided into grooved sections arranged to abutting engagement and each section plurally grooved, the first groove of each section being aligned radially with the turning axis of the rotor, while the other grooves are in parallelism therewith and terminating in their consecutive order along the radial groove of next succeeding section whereby the trailing wall J of the first groove will contact the cutting edge of the blade its entire length simultaneously while the other grooves will increase their angle consecutively as the rotor turns, and so on through the sections of each side. The trend of the tangentially engaging grooves is to throw the grain as cracked toward the said turning axis and furthermore a shearing contact is had with the edge of the blade except for the first said groove of each section.

The foregoing description is in the language of grooves while in reality the cracking is done by the trailing side wall of each groove at its outer extremity, in other words, each groove is channellike in cross section and the comminutions of the grain is carried within the channel as it passes the cutting edge of the blade. At the same time if the comminutions are not cracked sufficient to enter the grooves such particles will rebound for repeated strokes cracking the same sufiicient to enter the groove and the particles of grain being so conducted and cracked have proven to accomplish the final result Without producing flour or meal for the reason that the cracking mechanism is void of parallel confronting surfaces in contact with each other to rub or pulverize the particles while passing through the machine.

As a means to restrict the flow of the grain to the leading side of the rotors rotation it will be seen that the length of the throat of the hopper is equal to the radii of the rotor from the turning axis to its circumference as shown in Figs. 4 and 5, and to restrict the grain as it leaves the throat from moving against the rotation there is provided bars 24 rectangular in cross section that are secured to their respective inside walls of the hood and being in alignment with the end of the hopper that is radially disposed with the turning axis of the rotor and the thickness of each bar being equal to or slightly lesser than the space between the sides of the rotor and inner sides of the hood.

To avoid pulverizing tendency of the grain circumferentially of the rotor there is provided an arcuate plate 25, the lower end of which is secured to the hood at its lower extremity, while its edges are secured to the sides of the hood, the plate being arced suificient to closely engage on the periphery of the rotor to function as a stop for the grain which otherwise may be pulverized at the periphery of the rotor, said plate at its upper end being pitched each way from the center zone of the rotors periphery to assist the grain moving to each side upward from the horizontal plane of its turning axis. Inasmuch as the hood is rockably carried on the casing by its said hinges, the same may be inverted to empty any accumulation of grain between the upper end of the plate and wall of the hopper when the machine is idle.

As actuating means for the machine there is provided a plurally grooved pulle 26 secured to the drive shaft as turning means therefor, said pulley to receive belt members 21 engaging in the grooves and in a similar grooved pulley of a suitable diameter that is secured to the drive shaft of a motor.

While the structure of the machine is specifically set forth the same may be varied as lie within the scope of the appended claims.

Having fully described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a machine of the class described for cracking grain, a casing comprising a hood hingedly connected to the casing and a hopper positioned on the hood, and a hollow portion to carry the casing, said hopper to receive rain and discharge the same into the casing and a bottom for the hollow portion, said bottom slanting downwardly and outwardly from the hollow portion to function as a discharge for the grain from the casing, a disc rotor having a smooth periphery and grooved sides, said disc rotor having a shaft and being journalled in the casing, elongated cutting blades adjustably carried by the casing and extending outward in the same direction from the turning axis of the rotor and being on a horizontal plane therewith and the cutting edges of the blades extending in and toward their respective grooved sides of the rotor, and bars vertically secured to the hood side walls inwardly thereof, said bars extending from the shaft to the casing thereabove to close the space between the walls and sides of the rotor to restrict the flow of grain to the approaching movement of the rotor and to avoid continuous rotation of the grain with the rotor While cracking the grain.

2. In a machine as recited in claim 1, each grooved side of the disc rotor being subdivided into sections, said grooves being channel-like in cross section and the first groove of each section being radially disposed with the turning axis of the disc rotor, while the other grooves of said section are in parallelism with the first said radial groove and terminating their inner ends with the radial groove of a succeeding section to produce a shearing contact with the edge of the cutting blades.

JOHN W. THOMAS.

(References on following page) 5 REFERENCES CITED The following referenlces are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 349,693 Clark Sept. 28, 1886 425,817 McCanna, et a1 Apr. 15, 1890 678,983 Sackett July 23, 1901 Number 8 Name Date Clough May 23, 1905 Arzinger Mar. 9, 1920 Koch June 14, 1927 Anderson Aug. 27, 1929 Calhoun Jan. 5, 1932 Ielfield Sept. 11, 1934 Mankoff May 13, 1941 

